The course
Records show that cockfighting began with the domestication of the wild Gallus gallus in Asia. The practice then spread to Europe, where it became a real success, particularly in England, to the point where it had to be banned to prevent royalists gathering around the pitts. In America and the Caribbean, it became the main pastime of the colonists, who attended the fights while the enslaved served as carers for the roosters.
Cockfighting has been tolerated in 27 countries since 2008. This practice of taking pleasure at the expense of life, even of an animal, is from another era. It's natural for roosters to fight each other, but it's questionable for humans to join in the fun.
The practice
Cockfighting takes place in the pitts. In the West Indies, the tradition of cockfighting dates back several centuries, and the practice remains a popular pastime for settlers, locals and later tourists alike.
The pitt in the West Indies is a kind of arena in which cockfighting takes place. The arena is called a "gallodrome" in northern France, a "pitt" in the West Indies and a "rond" on Reunion Island. Two roosters, prepared for the fights they're about to perform, compete on a circular area, a sort of ring, in front of an audience seated on tiers, also circular. The dewclaws are cut off and replaced by horn dewclaws (longer and sharper), or by steel dewclaws.
According to René Agot, who in his youth frequented the gallodromes, fighting generally takes place in the afternoon and evening, except on Fridays, which is traditionally a respected day. Like spectators, cockerels pay an entrance fee of around 10 to 15 euros. Each cockereler pays a fee to fight, which is his or her stake. This can be in the order of 200, 300 or 500 euros on his or her cockerel. A fixed amount is then set, which may be 1,000, 2,000 or more euros. We then make lists of players, and the sum of their bets must total the same fixed amount. At this point, the betting stops. People take their seats in the bleachers around the table. The two opponents, face to face, stare at each other in the arena. The spectators, arousing their ardor, solicit and encourage them vehemently by name. The rooster hears his name. He responds by attacking. He swings his spurs at his competitor's feathers, who responds as vigorously as he does. Bets are placed. The confrontation is closely watched by the referee who owns the pitt. Armed with a bell, the man can end the game fairly quickly by separating the belligerents, thus heightening the tension in the audience, who are as agitated as the animal if they have placed a bet on the fighter who wins. The winner gets back double his stake. The organizer, the owner of the pitt, is entitled to the entry fees.
However, not everyone is an honest man, and these fights don't always respect the rules. They can be the occasion for forbidden practices, such as attempting to poison the opponent's rooster, or for criminal behaviour that requires meticulous pre-fight checks.
Abuse
In view of the mistreatment, suffering and sometimes death it causes, the practice of fighting is highly controversial. Many countries prohibit it, not least because of the mutilation or death of the animals, whose dewclaws are sometimes replaced by a metal blade or spike, as Martinican writer and singer Marijosé Alie-Monthieux writes in Nouvelles de Martinique, Éditions Magellan: "The man-father had unfolded his elbow and was stroking the tawny feathers of a magnificent rooster, which he religiously placed on the ground. The garbage heap at the foot of the mango tree had been cleared away, and all the neighborhood majors had gathered. Four roosters, including Julius Sr.'s, were the stars of the meeting, and Fil-de-Fer was not a little proud to be there for the exciting expectation that bets would be placed, money and rum would be exchanged, and that the real business, the business of men, would begin for him and his pal. He watched as his father attached two razor blades to his beast's dewclaws, tried to contain his drumming chest, howled with the others, gloated when his father pocketed the bet, swallowed two glasses of rum and turned back to the sea to absorb a little extra happiness.
The operating procedures
In Martinique, fighting roosters are selected from among nakiva roosters, also known as "gros-sirop" or " kalagway " roosters, which are dark red in color, "cendré" roosters, with white and black feathers, madras roosters, which are orange-red in color, and white roosters known as kok pay. Each rooster has its own name, which the animal is said to know: "Vonvon, Bruce-Lee, Hercule".
Woe betide anyone whose house stands on the site of a pitt, for the blood has run too deep. The fighting cock, like a future monarch, has been groomed for his role from an early age. He can be recognized by his ceremonial attire, which can be transformed into battle dress at the right moment, because not just anyone can be a cockerel. The first distinguishing feature is the shaved neck feathers, the plucking of the thighs and belly, and the docked tail. The wings, crest and barbels are slightly trimmed. Their natural dewclaws are sometimes tampered with, depending on the region, by being replaced by larger, sharpened (steel) artificial dewclaws. The result is undoubtedly more aerodynamic.
Both domestic and wild roosters, known as kok kouri, have a natural propensity for fighting. While roosters are naturally belligerent, fighters are bred specifically for combat. Not just anyone can be a fighting cock!
The role of the egg-layer or breeder
In Martinique, a breeder known as a coqueleur looks after and pampers his animals. It's his passion, because here you're not a cockerel breeder or even a pitt owner by trade. The "coqueleur" places his young rooster, often alone, in his caloge to toughen him up. From time to time, he puts him in the sun to benefit from its rays. The cockerel is regarded as a sportsman who trains to be a professional, and the cockerelman encourages him to fight with domesticated roosters or roosters that are no longer productive. They are selected to develop their fighting spirit and stamina. They are often crossed with expensive pheasants. They are often given hormones to make them more combative. Their diet is therefore not the same as that of poultry in the henhouse. Nowadays, some egg-layers import fighting roosters from Puerto Rico or Cuba. A cockerel with a pedigree and a good performance record is very, very expensive. Some cockerelers lose their entire salary in their gamble. The owner of the pitt is also an enthusiast, with one or more roosters that he breeds in similar conditions. The man is often the referee who takes care of setting the bets, keeping a safe eye on the animal and making sure it performs well in its pitt.
Some people avoid eating a defeated rooster, given all the anabolic drugs the animal has been treated with.
The diversity of cockfighting types
"Cockfighting is a diverse practice. The rules and the profile of the roosters vary from region to region. However, there are three main types of cockfighting:
Speed fighting with artificial metal lugs, either a blade or a spike. This type of combat is very short and rapid
Endurance sparring with blunted lugs, or lugs covered with strips of cloth or a cap. This type of fight is longer, and the outcome is usually a knockout or withdrawal.
An intermediary between the two is practised with the natural pointed dewclaw or with an artificial dewclaw resembling it".
(source: document Combats de coqs la ferme Galamé)
A declining leisure activity
Cockfighting in Martinique began as a hobby for békés, and has become popular over the years. In the 1960s, pitts were relatively numerous. Martinique may have counted between 160 and 185 pitts, located both in the countryside, on the outskirts of communes (Four-à-Chaux in Lamentin, near the freeway) and in certain suburbs, notably at the renowned Dillon pitt, since named the Jean-Marie-Serrault Cultural Centre, where bèlè singer Ti-Émile, a renowned traditional dancer and cockerel, was the manager appointed by Aimé Césaire, mayor at the time.
Today, fortunately, there are only around twenty of them, fifteen of which are still active, and as the law stipulates that it is now forbidden to create new ones, we hope that all these bloody hobbies will be no more than unfortunate bad memories.
The Pitt Agot in Bois-Soldat, a district of Le François, is one of the few places that can be visited in the company of people with reduced mobility. It was temporarily closed after the owner's death, and then taken over by his daughter.
Still authorized in Martinique, this now strictly regulated discipline is on the way to being banned.
A variant: snake vs. mongoose fights
The fierce, combative mongoose. The mongoose of our countryside is always on the run. You can't see it, but it's on fire, and it knows it. She stops, a little wary, suddenly keeps watch, then leaves just as suddenly, a little more confident, always with the same ballant, continuing her frantic rally against her invisible steed. The mongoose is a mammal of the carnivorous order. It hasn't always been part of our environment. It was the mongoose's reputation as a ferocious fighter of the most dangerous snakes that led to the export of the Java mongoose(Herpestes javanicus) from its native Asia. It was then introduced to Martinique, around 1890, to combat the proliferation of rats and thus the trigonocephalus, the lanceolate botrops and the dangerous spearhead that were invading the sugarcane plantations. It proved highly productive. She usually eats toads, chickens, anolis, eggs, chicks and earthworms, and sometimes offers herself a piece of fruit for dessert.
Physionomy. Standing on four legs, the mongoose is covered in long, silky, light-brown hair. Its slender body ends in a long, bushy tail. It can measure thirty centimetres or more, and its claws are non-retractable. She has small ears, moving them and pointing them in all directions, on the lookout for information. Normally neither dangerous nor aggressive, the intelligent beast can, but very rarely, be used as a pet. It prefers nature, and will only be noticed if it frequents your henhouse.
The snake-mangosteen fight. It's the little, frightened-looking beast that you'll see in the pitts confronting and taking on the fearsome spearhead, and very often winning. In the overheated atmosphere, the botrops attack her repeatedly and try to bite her. The mongoose dodges it, looking for a loophole. She mustn't let the "other one" bite her on the head, which she won't be able to lick. She fights against the "long beast" and wins. It is said that she is immune, as her saliva can protect her from the dangerous venom.
